Communal violence broke out at Tikri Brahman village of Palwal district in Haryana after Hindus and Muslims clashed with each other on two separate occasions on Sunday, police said.

Police said people from both communities sustained injuries during the stone-pelting that ensued during the clashes. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital.

No deaths were reported at the time of going to press. According to police, stones were also hurled on police officers who arrived at the village to contain the situation and a number of police personnel were injured.

Tikri Brahman village is a little over 30 km from Atali village in Ballabhgarh, which saw rioting earlier in May and has been simmering since then. IGP (South Range) Mamta Singh said it was “too early” to tell as to whether the two incidents were related. Police said the area had been tense since arrests at Atali village earlier on Saturday.

According to police, clashes initially took place around 2 pm on Sunday and was followed by a second spate of violence at
6 pm. “It is too early to identify what triggered the violence. Right now it seems that it was an altercation between two youths that escalated into violence. Our focus is presently on containing the violence. There was some stone-pelting between members of two communities, but things are completely peaceful at present. We have deployed additional forces at the village,” Singh said.